CNN contributor Bob Greene suggests that book jackets are a dying art. In this article, he spotlights nine great covers. Which ones are your favorites?
I am a sucker for great packaging. Although I try to never judge books by their cover, I admit that there have been a few I've picked up simply because the jacket caught my eye. Two recent attractions yielded drastically different results.
The woven blue notebook of Paul Auster's Oracle Night lured me in much the same way that the possibly supernatural journal ensnares the protagonist. Oracle Night was my first foray into Auster's work. I loved the mysteries and complexities on every page and now I can't get enough Auster. I scour the library and bookstore shelves for his books and since I discovered we are almost neighbors, keep my eyes peeled for him when I'm walking around Brooklyn.
I expected to read something fascinating or scientific after opening the cover of Galt Niederhoffer's A Taxonomy of Barnacles. I find this book polarizing. Some critics call it a contrived vanity project and others find its zaniness charming. I agree with with the former. I will steer clear of the author's future endeavors, but I must admit a desire to talk to her agent or editor about how structuring the novel more like the science project-like cover could have improved the writing and, ultimately, sales.
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Want to show off your favorite book? There are so many great t-shirts here! In addition to the Streetcar shirt, I love the 1984 and Hester Prynne shirts.image found here
The Pulitzer Prizes were announced at Columbia University yesterday. Congratulations to all of the winners and finalists!
The press release for the prize in Drama is as follows (from the Pulitzer Prize site): Awarded to “Next to Normal,” music by Tom Kitt, book and lyrics by Brian Yorkey, a powerful rock musical that grapples with mental illness in a suburban family and expands the scope of subject matter for musicals. (Moved into contention by the Board within the Drama category.)
Nominated as finalists in this category were: “The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity,” by Kristoffer Diaz, a play invoking the exaggerated role-playing of professional wrestling to explore themes from globalization to ethnic stereotyping, as the audience becomes both intimate insider and ringside spectator; “Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo,” by Rajiv Joseph, a play about the chaotic Iraq war that uses a network of characters, including a caged tiger, to ponder violent, senseless death, blending social commentary with tragicomic mayhem, and “In the Next Room or the vibrator play,” by Sarah Ruhl, an inventive work that mixes comedy and drama as it examines the medical practice of a 19th century American doctor and confronts questions of female sexuality and emancipation.
The Prizes are never without controversy. According to Charles McNulty, member of the Pulitzer Prize drama jury, critic for the LA Times, and my former professor, the board disregarded the recommendation of the jury and awarded a visible and commercially viable piece of theatre rather than a riskier play by an emerging playwright. McNulty's insightful article can be found here.
I have questions about the awards process. How subjective are these awards? How much weight does the board give the jury? How long do they deliberate about the finalists before adding their sentimental favorites?
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I am a sucker for great packaging. Although I try to never judge books by their cover, I admit that there have been a few I've picked up simply because the jacket caught my eye. Two recent attractions yielded drastically different results. 
